There has never been a large labor pool for security officers , and most security directors will tell you that even though they have approved staffing levels , they historically have rarely filled those levels with competent staff .
There has never been a large labor pool for security officers , and most security directors will tell you that even though they have approved staffing levels , they historically have rarely filled those levels with competent staff .
“ ” tracting qualified and competent security officers has always been a challenge for most gaming properties .
Wages for security officers were always dependent on the jurisdiction , and market conditions and labor expense were fairly predictable from a budgeting standpoint BC . Now the wage range has expanded and , in some instances , surpassed previous levels significantly . Another security consultant in Australia advised me that some casinos were advertising $ 90 per hour for the holiday period to attract qualified people just for the Christmas and New Year ’ s period to supplement their already short-staffed operations .
Fast forward to the start of 2022 . Labor market conditions have dramatically changed , and some casinos report as high as 50 percent staff shortages in security with very few applicants regardless of wages and benefits offered . There are many different theories for this shortage in personnel — which although interesting , do not help solve the issue or the lack of people to hire in security .
Attempts at resolving staff shortages have mixed reviews and always associated costs . The constant is that labor costs have risen dramatically regardless . Some properties started offering signing bonuses with conditions to attempt to keep new employees for extended periods while others relied on the age-old solutions such as job fairs to draw security employees with little results .
Overtime costs have also risen significantly as a result of staff shortages . Security employee burnout as a result of working additional daily overtime has also been observed at some properties , and should be monitored and tempered when appropriate .
Regardless , with less security personnel working and patrolling the properties , there is less security presence and security footprint in gaming properties than was traditionally in place BC . This has created a need to re-evaluate what functions security personnel routinely do and prioritize those functions .
Eliminating Non-Security Functions
Many properties have taken a fresh look at what functions are performed by security officers to narrow down their minute-by-minute activity . Although this approach merely transfers duties to other departments and does not improve the overall labor challenges , it does provide a higher level of security presence , which ultimately helps reduce the risks of criminal events occurring and impacting the patrons , and future potential litigation as a result .
Most of my work involves legal work as it relates to lawsuits , and my specialty area is casinos and nightclubs . I have never seen the number of lawsuits against casinos as what is occurring currently in courts across the U . S . Notwithstanding that there is a lag time from when an incident occurs until it churns its way through the legal system , there is a noticeable increase in litigation being filed and served shortly after an incident occurs rather than the traditional period just before the statutory time frame of two to five years expires .
The important thing for future litigation is to document what changes and processes you have implemented that will demonstrate your company ’ s commitment to safety and security for your guests and employees . This includes what changes to the security functions you made , especially those items that are not directly related to a traditional security function .
Non-security functions I have seen range from performing valet-type functions such as limousine services all the way to delivering certain items of
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